Cal State Faculty Strike

[Langue_doc]

Cal State Faculty Begin Largest U.S. Strike of University Professors
Thousands of professors, lecturers and other academic staff members walked off the job in a protest that was expected to cancel most classes early in the academic period. They plan to strike for five days.

[apl68]

I would think that most unions would be glad for an offer of 5% increases over each of the next three years.

[Wahoo Redux]

I would think that most unions would be glad for an offer of 5% increases over each of the next three years.

I don't think that really cuts it in California, however. 

I do not blame the academics involved in the least, but this is a bad time all around to strike. 

University leaders said the system already spends 75 percent of its operating budget on staff compensation and cannot afford to increase salaries at that level. The California State University Board of Trustees last year approved 6 percent annual tuition increases over five years because system officials said they could not balance their budget otherwise.

"If we were to agree to the increase that these unions are demanding, we would have to make severe cuts to programs," Leora Freedman, the university system's vice chancellor for human resources, said in a news conference on Friday. "We would have to lay off employees — this would jeopardize our educational mission." She added that the system had recently agreed on 5 percent pay increases with six other labor unions.

The only thing I can think to say is that this is yet another illustration of how badly funded academia is and how badly designed the corporate structure of academia is. 

[Langue_doc]

The strike's over.

Cal State Professors Reach Tentative Deal to End Strike

The relevant paragraphs from the article:

The California State University system and the union representing thousands of professors and lecturers reached a tentative deal on Monday to raise wages, ending what was the largest strike by university faculty members in U.S. history.

The deal, announced by both sides on Monday night, came just hours after the California Faculty Association, the union that represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches, began what was planned as a five-day walkout across the 23 C.S.U. campuses, which serve nearly 460,000 students.

The tentative deal means that faculty at the nation's largest four-year public university system will return to work on Tuesday, union officials said.